1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a slider for a slide fastener having an automatic stop function and more particularly to a slider for a slide fastener with an automatic stopper which enables to simplify a structure of a slider body and also enables a pull to be easily installed on the slider body.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, there has been often used a slider for a slide fastener having an automatic stop function in which by operating a pull to a slider body which couples/uncouples a zip teeth row of a fastener chain, a stop pawl of a stop pawl body is engaged with a part of the zip teeth row of the fastener chain so as to stop the slider body from moving (see for example, Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 4-32974).
In a slider 100 described in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 4-32974, as shown in FIGS. 17 and 18, a downward concave pull holding body 102 is fixed firmly on a slider body 101 from a shoulder side of an upper blade piece to a rear opening side. The base end portion of a stop pawl body 103 is mounted near the shoulder side of the same pull holding body 102 such that it is capable of moving vertically.
An engaging pawl 105 projecting to a zip teeth row position on a fastener chain through an engagement window 104 formed in the upper blade piece of the slider body 101 such that it goes through vertically and an operation concave portion 107 which is opened to a rear opening side of the upper blade piece for accommodating the mounting shaft portion of a pull 106 are formed at a front end of the stop pawl body 103. A bottom face of the base end portion of the stop pawl body 103 is always urged by a spring force of a compression coil spring placed in a small hole formed in the upper blade piece as shown in FIG. 18 so as to project the engaging pawl 105 of the stop pawl body 103 to the zip teeth row position on the fastener chain through the engagement window 104.
As shown in FIG. 18, a gap portion 108 formed between an end portion on the side of the rear opening of the pull holding body 102 and the upper blade piece of the slider body 101 serves as a gap used for inserting the mounting shaft portion of the pull 106. A closing member 109 for closing an insertion gap is disposed in this gap portion 108 so that it is capable of sliding between a gap closing position near the rear opening side and a gap opening position near a shoulder side. The closing member 109 is always urged toward the gap closing position.
The closing member 109 is formed in a substantially U shape as seen in its plan view as shown in FIG. 17. At its two-branched arm portion, there are formed a first closing portion 110 for closing the gap portion 108 for a mounting shaft portion of the pull 106 not to be able to pass through the gap position and a second closing portion 114 for closing a continuous edge portion 113 which is continuous between a clearance 111 formed near the rear opening in right and left wall portions of the pull holding body 102 and an accommodating space 112 formed near a shoulder for the mounting shaft portion of the pull 106 not to be able to pass through. Both first and second closing portions 110, 114 project upwardly.
For the slider 100 having the above-described structure, as shown in FIGS. 18 to 20, the stop pawl body 103, the closing member 109 and the pull holding body 102 are assembled on the slider body 101 except the pull 106 as a slider assembly product and then, the pull 106 is installed on the slider assembly product.
Upon installation of the pull 106 onto the slider body 101, as shown in FIGS. 18 and 19, the mounting shaft portion of the pull 106 is pressed into the gap portion 108 in the slider body 101 as a first step. If an outside end of the first closing portion 110 of the closing member 109 is pressed with the mounting shaft portion of the pull 106, the first closing portion 110 leaves an end on the rear opening side of the pull holding body 102 as shown in FIG. 19 so that the gap portion 108 is opened widely for the mounting shaft portion of the pull 106 to be able to pass through. After the mounting shaft portion is moved from the gap portion 108 into the clearance 111 in the pull holding body 102, the closing member 109 returns to its original gap closing position by a restoration force of the spring as shown in FIG. 20.
Next, as shown in FIG. 20, the mounting shaft portion of the pull 106 is moved from the clearance 111 in the pull holding body 102 into a concave portion formed between the first and second closing portions 110 and 114 of the closing member 109 as a second step. If the mounting shaft portion of the pull 106 is pressed into the gap portion 108 again as a third step, the second closing portion 114 looses out of a position of the continuous edge portion 113 in the pull holding body 102 as shown in FIG. 19. The mounting shaft portion of the pull 106 passes the bottom end of the continuous edge portion 113 in a condition in which it is accommodated in the concave portion and moves to the bottom end of the accommodating space 112 in the pull holding body 102. At the same time, the mounting shaft portion of the pull 106 moves into an operation concave portion 107 in the stop pawl body 103 as indicated with a broken line in FIG. 19.
As a fourth step, if the pull 106 is moved upward so as to move the mounting shaft portion of the pull 106 into the accommodating space 112 in the pull holding body 102, an interference between the mounting shaft portion and the second closing portion 114 of the closing member 109 is eliminated. Consequently, the closing member 109 returns to the gap closing position due to a spring force and then, the installation of the pull 106 is completed. Then, if the closing member 109 returns to the gap closing position, the pull 106 is prevented from escaping out.
After the installation of the pull 106, if it is intended to remove the pull 106 out from the slider body 101, the closing member 109 is moved to the gap opening position against an elastic force and with the closing member 109 held at the gap opening position, a reverse operation for the pull 106 to the above-mentioned operation is carried out. Consequently, the existing pull 106 can be removed out from the slider body 101 and a new pull can be installed instead of the existing pull 106.
As for an operation with the pull 106 installed in this way, if the pull 106 is pulled obliquely upward or in a sliding direction of the slider, the stop pawl body 103 is brought up against an elastic force through the operation concave portion 107 in the stop pawl body 103 by the mounting shaft portion of the pull 106, so that the engaging pawl 105 of the stop pawl body 103 leaves the zip teeth row on the fastener chain. In this condition, the slider body 101 can be moved freely so as to mesh the zip teeth row on the fastener chain with each other. When the pull 106 is released from a hand, the stop pawl body 103 is urged by a spring so that the engaging pawl 105 is automatically inserted into the zip teeth row on the fastener chain through the engagement window 104 in the upper blade piece, thereby stopping the motion of the slider. Meanwhile the technology on the slider for the slide fastener with the automatic stopper disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 4-32974 was previously proposed by the present inventor.
Manufacturers of clothing, bags and the like have been demanded to prepare slider bodies and various types of pulls separately so as to install the diversified types of pulls each having a different color and shape onto the slider body corresponding to a request and desire of a customer.
As a result, after an order on a slider corresponding to a request or desire of customer is received, the necessity of requesting a part manufacturer, who manufactures and sells fixing devices such as fasteners for, for example, bags, sport wears and other clothes to develop and manufacture a slider which fits to the request or desire of the customers again is eliminated, so that the manufacturers of clothing, bags and the like can meet such request or desire of the customer quickly.
According to the related art described in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 4-32974, the pull 106 can be installed on a slider assembly product detachably in the above-described manner. However, upon installing the stop pawl body 103 and the pull holding body 102 on the slider body 101 of the conventional slider 100, it is necessary to form a shaft hole in each of a pair of mounting pieces, right and left, erected on the side of the shoulder of the slider body 101 and support the front end of the stop pawl body 103 between the respective mounting pieces so as to be vertically rotatable via a pin inserted into each shaft hole. Next, exposed end portions on both sides of the aforementioned pin are inserted into the shaft holes formed in the right and left side wall portions of the pull holding body 102 and the pull holding body 102 should be fixed on each mounting piece so that it is immobile by crimping each exposed end of the pin with respect to the right and left side wall portions of the pull holding body 102.
For the reason, the mounting structures of the stop pawl body 103 and the pull holding body 102 onto the slider body 101 become complicated. In case where the stop pawl body 103 and the pull holding body 102 are assembled on the slider body 101 using an automatic assembly machine, diversified apparatuses accompanied by that automatic assembly work are required thereby boosting its equipment cost and accompanied by an increase in the equipment cost, management cost and the like possibly increase. Further, because the mounting structures of the stop pawl body 103 and the pull holding body 102 to the slider body 101 become complicated, manufacturing cost of the slider increases, thereby making it impossible to produce at a low cost.
According to the related art described in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 4-32974, when the closing member 109 is pressed to the gap closing position of the slider body 101 as described above, the gap portion 108 formed between an end portion on the rear opening side of the pull holding body 102 and the upper blade piece of the slider body 101 is opened. Then, the mounting shaft portion of the pull 106 is inserted through the opening portion of this gap portion 108 to below the rear face of the pull holding body 102 and further inserted into the operation concave portion 107 in the stop pawl body 103. Then, the installation of the pull 106 is completed.
However, when engaging the pull 106 with the operation concave portion 107 in the stop pawl body 103, it is necessary to move the pull 106 by amounts that allow it to go beyond top ends of sliding faces of the first and second closing portions 110, 114 of the closing member 109 while moving the closing member 109 by the pull 106 with resisting an elastic force.
As a result, if the pull holding body 102 is set large, necessarily, the size of the closing member 109 increases, so that an excessive pressing force for that closing member 109 is necessary. Because such a strong pressing force is applied directly to the first and second closing members 110, 114 of the closing member 109 and the stop pawl body 103, damage, deformation and the like are likely to occur in the closing member 109, the stop pawl body 103 and the pull 106, thereby worsening the assembly performance for the pull 106 and the slider body 101.
On the other hand, when removing an existing pull 106 from the slider assembly product, it is necessary to move the closing member 109 to a gap opening position resisting an elastic force so as to release an engagement between the pull 106 and the operation concave portion 107 in the stop pawl body 103. By executing a reverse operation to the operation for engaging the pull 106 with the operation concave portion 107 in the stop pawl body 103 with the closing member 109 held at the gap opening position resisting an elastic force of the closing member 109, it is necessary to pull out the pull 106 while moving it by the amounts which allows it to go beyond the top faces of the respective sliding faces of the first and second closing portions 110, 114. For the reason, the mounting work for the pull 106 becomes complicated like a case where the pull 106 is engaged with the operation concave portion 107 in the stop pawl body 103.
The slider for the slide fastener with the automatic stopper described in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 4-32974 is so constructed that its pull 106 can be replaced with a new pull different in color or shape by pulling out the pull 106 from the slider assembly product. Thus, the slider structure is complicated as described above and there is a limit in installing the pull on the slider assembly product accurately and thus, the installation work of the pull has been demanded to be facilitated. If such a demand can be satisfied, the pull can be installed on the slider body reasonably.